Man in court over N$1 million

Ongwediva-A man has appeared in the Ondangwa Magistrate’s Court and is also expected to appear in Windhoek and Oshikango courts for fraud involving almost N$1 million.
Several people were collectively conned of close to N$1 million in Oshikango, Windhoek and Ondangwa.

According to the police, Morvan Vorster, 55, who is originally from South Africa, but a Namibian citizen by marriage, impersonated his victims and withdrew money from their bank accounts once he got access to their identity documents.

It is believed one of his victims who thought he and Vorster were ‘friends’ died of shock after he discovered he had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to the conman.

According to the Oshana Police acting regional commander, Deputy Commissioner Nico Steenkamp, in 2016 Vorster allegedly withdrew N$220,000 from an account of one of his ‘friends’. The withdrawal was allegedly carried out at First National Bank (FNB) branch at Olunghono in Ondangwa.

It is alleged Vorster and his victim had met in Henties Bay to where the victim had just moved from Swakopmund. The two had become ‘close friends’ and in the process Vorster allegedly managed to get hold of his friend’s identity documents. He (Vorster) then travelled to Ondangwa where he withdrew the money on December 19, 2016.

The victim discovered his money was gone on Christmas Eve of 2016 (December 24). Two days later the victim died. Steenkamp said it is suspected the victim died of shock after discovering his money was stolen.

Vorster was arrested on charges of fraud and appeared in the Ondangwa Magistrate’s Court on May 15, 2017 where he was refused bail. His case was postponed to July 13.

While in custody two more cases of fraud against Vorster surfaced in Windhoek and Oshikango where he fraudulently withdrew sums of N$400,000 and N$100,000 respectively.

Namibian Police spokesperson Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi confirmed the cases but he refused to shed more light, maintaining that doing so may interfere with investigations.

According to Kanguatjivi, Vorster is expected to appear in the Windhoek’s Magistrates Court this week.